In a win for open government, Treasurer Frank T. Caprio has announced the launch of the first state-sponsored online database of state spending.

The new Web site, dubbed "Treasury Online Checkbook," will be officially unveiled at a news conference on Monday. It will allow the public to search all Treasury Department spending including salaries, offices expenses and other checks written.

In a statement, Caprio said he hopes the site "will become the model for state and local government in their efforts to be more accessible and accountable to the taxpayers of Rhode Island."

"The hope is that other agencies will follow our lead and make their expenditures available," said Caprio spokesman Tim Gray in an interview.

Gray hinted that another state entity may soon follow suit with its own searchable site. A spokeswoman for the Carcieri administration did not immediately return calls for comment.

"It's about accountability and holding a specific department accountable for how tax dollars are being spent," Gray said.

More details about the new site will be available at the news conference, Monday, Feb. 9 at 2 p.m. in the Office of the General Treasurer at the State House, Suite 102.

Other Web sites that allow the public to track state documents are Transparency Train, produced by the Ocean State Policy Research Institute, and the Money Trail, a project of the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition Foundation.